Bill would support behavioral health care for responders and dispatchers

The federal health secretary would establish a three-year pilot and award grants to eligible agencies and nonprofits. Eligible applicants would include state or local public health departments, local behavioral health agencies, and nonprofits experienced in serving first responders. Each grant may support one listed purpose: embedded clinicians, peer counseling, program oversight, or training for peer counselors. Embedded clinicians must be licensed or certified where they practice and follow that jurisdiction’s confidentiality rules. Applicants must explain their plans, current behavioral health programs, and how the funds could improve outcomes. Officials must prioritize eligible applicants seeking to assist providers with fewer behavioral health and peer-support resources and distribute funds fairly across regions. The pilot would last three years, and the health secretary would report to Congress within one year after it ends.

A federal mental and behavioral health training program would treat covered responders and public safety dispatchers as eligible institutions. Coverage uses a separate federal definition of emergency response provider and the 2018 federal occupation code for public safety telecommunicators, including any successor code. The program could support field placements and recruitment of clinicians or behavioral health service providers. The text makes these providers eligible but does not state that every eligible provider would receive support.

The proposal would allow Congress to provide $10 million for each of three fiscal years to carry out the entire Act. The money could support both the training-program provision and the pilot grant program. This funding authority would not itself provide the money. The Act would not reserve the full amount only for the pilot. The funding authority would cover fiscal years 2027, 2028, and 2029.